16/09/2026 President
By creating the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces in October 2025, PACE became the first international body that “formalised and institutionalised dialogue with the other Russia,” said PACE President Petra Bayr in Washington today, opening a meeting of the Washington Dialogue, a forum for bilateral diplomatic discussions.
“This is a signal to those in Russia, who are terrified and silenced by the politics of their government, feel ashamed for the crimes committed by their army and dream of a better future for their country,” she emphasised, calling for “constructing a global approach to restoring democracy and human rights in Russia”.
“PACE has made a deliberate choice to invest political capital, institutional credibility and trust in a structured dialogue with Russian democratic forces at a time when the brutal war waged by Russia continues, repressions inside the country deepen, and the prospects for democracy in Russia appear distant,” she added.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Ms Bayr held talks with a member of the House of Representatives sitting on the Sub-committee on Europe of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Director of the State Department’s Office of Russian, Belarussian and Eurasian Affairs as well as with the Chairperson of the US Helsinki Commission.
She will take part tomorrow in a meeting organised by the Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation on “The Place of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East in Present-Day and Future Russia”.
